Failed States, Democratization, and the United Nations

International Interim Governments, Democratization and Post-Conflict Peace-building: Lessons from Cambodia and East Timor – First draft – Aurel Croissant Introduction Three years ago the British diplomat Robert Cooper created a huge controversy when he argued that “liberal imperialism” is a legitimate response to the chaos and disorder of civil strife and disrupted states (Coo- per 2002). But yesterday’s heresy has become today’s conventional wisdom. In his new book “Empire Lite”, Michael Ignatieff (2003), declares: “Temporary imperialism ― Empire Lite ― has become the necessary condition for democracy in countries torn apart by civil war”. Is he right? Is externally directed and monitored democratization an appropriate strategy for successful peace-building in post-conflict environments? Are liberal protectorates, transitional regimes or international interim regimes stable institutional bridges between regimes that can carry a society from conflict to sustainable peace? This paper seeks to discuss this subject with reference to Cambodia and East Timor, two prime examples for UN-led “international interim governments” that have played key roles in post-conflict peace-building. In discussing the question: ‘to what extent have the international interim governments contributed to democra- 1 tization and post-conflict peace-building in Cambodia and East Timor’,TP PT this study also considers the follow- ing four specific questions, raised by the organizers of this workshop: 1. What was the nature of the international interim governments in Cambodia and East Timor? 2. How did the fact that both international interim governments were UN-led affect the legitimacy, working and stability of the interim government? 3. How did the transitional authority provide the necessary stability and how did it conduct its mission? 4. What did both governments achieve and how sustainable were their outcomes? Doing so, the paper proceeds in sixth steps: First, I will discuss the relationship between democratization through international interim governments and peace-building. The main argument developed here is that democratic transition directed and monitored through international interim governments must be seen as 1 TP PT This essay defines democratization as the process of transition from a non-democratic to a democratic political regime. Democ- racy is defined as liberal democracy. one element within the multidimensional challenge of peace-building. The success or failure of this en- deavor critically depends on whether democratization is embedded in a broader strategy of post-conflict peace-building that promotes human security through legal, political and economic methods. Second, I will discuss the specific obstacles for democratization through international interim governments in countries and territories characterized by civil strife and disrupted stateness.2 The main argument developed here is that those countries which are the most likely candidates for international interim governments are the most unlikely candidates for sustainable democracy. Thirdly the background conditions, facilitating factors and obstructive conditions for democratization and peace-building through UN-led transitional governments in Cambodia and East Timor will be analyzed. Next, the paper describes the nature of transitional authority, its legitimacy, organization and operational methods in the examples of UN-led interim governments in Cambodia and East Timor. In the fifth section, the paper presents an evaluation of the successes and failures of both interim governments and examines the causes for both governments’ achievements and shortcomings., The conclusion draws some lessons from the experiences of the two countries in coping with the challenge of democratization and peace- building through international interim governments. I. Democratization through International Interim Governments and Peace-building In their seminal work on interim governments and democratic transitions, Yossi Shain and Juan Linz develop the model of international interim governments which is defined by the authors as those forms of transitional authority, “in which the international community, through the aegis of the United Nations, directs and monitors the process of democratic change” (Shain and Linz 1995, 5). Obviously, this is neither the only form of interim government, nor the only mode of externally monitored democratization. Additional models of democratizing interim governments developed by Shain and Linz are provisional, power-sharing, and caretaker governments (op. cit.). Another, empirically more frequent, mode of externally directed and monitored transition from authoritarianism is democratization through war and imposition, exercised either by a domestic administration under more or less explicit control of external powers (Grenada 1983, Panama 1989, post-Taliban Afghanistan), or directly by the occupation forces as in Post-Second World War Ger- many and Japan 1945-1947 (cf. Stepan 1986, Pei and Kasper 2003). 2 This essay uses the terms civil strife rather than civil war and disrupted rather than failed states in order to develop amore nu- anced exploration of the challenges posed by these problems (cf. Maley, Sampford and Thakur 2003). Jarmina Ottaway and Bethany Lacina (2003) and Michael Doyle (2003) have developed the idea of international interim regimes a step further. While the differentiation between three basic approaches of UN- post conflict interventions by Ottaway and Lacina helps to clarify the gray zone between international interim regimes (“international administrations”) and other approaches for UN post-conflict missions, Doyle’s four- fold typology of transitional authority allows one to classify different subtypes of international interim regimes. The four types of transitional authority are differentiated from each other by the degree of legal authority and effective international capacity the interim regime enjoys. Figure 1 presents the attempt to clarify the relationship between the classification of interim regimes developed by Shain and Linz and Michael Doyle’s typology of UN transitional authority. Figure 1: Interim governments and types of international interim governments Interim Governments Provisional Power-sharing International Caretaker (Transition managed (Transition is managed (Transition is managed (Transition is managed by counter-elite) by ancient regime and by UN) by elites of the ancient opposition) regime) Supervisory Authority Executive Authority Administrative Authority (UN transitional authority (UN has full executive (Domestic organs have has full legislative/ ex- authority; legislative and full legislative authority, ecutive & administrative executive authority is UN has reserve power authority) shared with domestic and is the main adminis- powers) trative authority) Source: Author’s adaptation from Shain and Linz 1995; Doyle 2003, 551-553. While Shain and Linz develop one defining criterion to distinguish types of interim regime (who manages the transition to democracy), Doyle’s criterion is a combination of the extent of legal authority and amount effective international capacity that transitional authority dispose. Doyle’s conceptualization does not sufficiently address the methodological issue of concept specifica- tion, therefore, it cannot provide a clear identification and definition of either the attribute ‘legal authority’ or ‘effective international capacity’. However, I conclude from his classification of empirical cases, that Doyle implicitly disaggregates the first attribute (which seems to be the main classificatory criterion) into three components: legislative, executive and administrative authority. The figure shows that three of Doyle’s types of transitional authority are subtypes of international interim government. While the work of Shain and Linz focuses on the role that interim governments play in enhanc- ing or impeding the democratic outcome in the transition from authoritarianism, Doyle and Ottaway and Lacina are more interested in the role that the United Nations in general and UN transitional authorities in particular play in post-conflict peace-building in general. Post conflict reconstruction or peace-building is a complex, multidimensional challenge that reaches far beyond directing and monitoring the process of democratic change. However, there is a close relationship between democratization through international interim governments and peace-building. Post-conflict peace-building, as understood in this paper, describes all operations conducted by an interim government organized either through an international organization like the United Nations (as in the case of Cambodia and East Timor) or the government of another sover- eign state “to foster economic and social cooperation” among the political elites of a specific territory “with the purpose of building confidence among previously warring parties; developing the social, political, and economic infrastructure to prevent future violence; and laying the foundations for a durable peace” (Doyle 2003, 530). It involves “the implementation of complex, multidimensional peace agreements” which include, in addition to more traditional tasks of peacekeeping such as monitoring cantonment and demobilization, resettling refugees, and supervising transitional civilian authorities, “monitoring and organizing the implementation of human rights, national democratic elections, and economic rehabilitation” (op. cit., 532-3). There

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